‘You don’t win easy at Batley’ - Daryl Powell praises Bulldogs as Wakefield Trinity produce ‘dominant-ish’ second half display to maintain perfect start

Powell’s men raced into a 12-0 lead inside the opening eight minutes thanks to Max Jowitt’s double but the Bulldogs charged back to lead 14-12 at the start of the second half.

However, three tries in the space of seven minutes from Caleb Uele, Matty Ashurst and Jack Croft turned the game back in Wakefield’s favour, with Iain Thornley’s late effort cementing a fifth victory out of five to keep them on top of the Championship table.

Powell said after the 34-14 win:

“We started well with a breakaway try and scored again soon after and it looked like it was one-way traffic at that point.

“But I thought right at the start that we were a little bit loose with our defensive effort and that put us under real pressure. We lacked a bit of discipline and focus on the way we wanted to play the game.

“It didn’t really change until we got to the second half. We managed going up the hill pretty well and it was a big win for us.”

Praising Batley, Powell said:

“I thought they played well. You always know that they are going to be a tight unit because they are a solid team, a solid club and they have been for many years.

“Every time I have been here it has always been a tough battle. You don’t win easy at Batley. It’s certainly great for us to come here and win and the second half was a dominant-ish performance from us. We got a grip of our ball control, we stopped giving penalties away and that gave us an opportunity to finish as winners.

“But I also thought they defended their own line well. It could have been a fair bit more if they weren’t as resolute as they were.”